The first time I ever came across the Bear, he was pretty sweet to me.  We were on his home turf, and a bar I was at had extremely fresh kegs of Racer 5, their “session” IPA, on draught.  For undisclosed reasons I was afforded copious amounts of this beer for free, which went down smooth and truly gave me an appreciation for fresh, bright, amazing West Coast IPA.  Since then I’ve flirted with the Bear some more, finding some on tap here and there, drinking the bottles that I could, with Racer 5 and Hop Rod Rye far outweighing the others in terms of what I consumed.

Needless to say I was not prepared for the intensity of the beers that The Gate had on that night.  There were TWENTY lines of Bear Republic to choose from, plus three casks which were tapped in series.  Having chased the fabled Racer X for so long after loving it’s younger brother, and having none of my friends around to discourage me from burning my mouth with hop insanity before I drank anything else, I had to go for it.  A pint of Racer X is as close as I have gotten in a long time to the completely sublime freshness of IPA on the West Coast.  There was a clean brightness about Racer X that sets it apart from the other big IPA, Apex, that I had at the Blind Tiger a few months back.  A beautiful amber color that belied the beer’s easy drinking finish, Racer X is perfectly carbonated, relatively light bodied without being thin, and finishes with an insane hop wallop dryness that is damaging but not tongue destroying.  Of course the nose on this beer is what I was after and I was not disappointed.  Didn’t have the wherewithal to try and figure out what kind of Hops went into it, but there were massive amounts of resin, citrus, and just insane fresh Hop aroma.  Wow.  I tried to drink this slowly but that didn’t go so well.

Next I was encouraged by Pat and others to try the cask, Hop Rod Rye, already mentioned as one of my favorites from the brewery.  It took me a few minutes to warm the beer up and try to recover my taste buds, but both kicked in in sufficient time and I was pleasantly surprised by how great the cask treated this beer.  Or rather, how untreated it was — it was a beautiful ruddy brown, hazed and dark.  Regardless, the natural, light carbonation and preserved freshness did wonders for the round Malt flavors, and the lack of heavy carbonation allowed the Rye to come across in a gentler, less astringent fashion.  This Rye IPA is a great example of how malt, bitterness, and spice can all come together to form a sessionable IPA without leaning to far in any one direction.  Bear Republic is masterful at balancing these properties…when they want to.

When they don’t want to be balanced, they aren’t.  After not taking it easy for my first two selections, I went for the 11% ABV Barrel Aged Old Scouter’s Barleywine next.  As shocked as I was by the first two beers, I could never have expected how perfect and wonderful this barleywine is.  I was literally walking around stunned, telling everyone who would listen that I would rather “frame this beer than drink it.”  Massive amounts of malt and barrel funk are the first thing you smell when you bring this beer up to your gullet.  The malt was so thick and heavy on the nose that I couldn’t stop smelling it, like the time I visited a sugar shack in Massachussettes and wanted to bathe in the steam of the Maple Syrup cooking down.  Touted as 120 IBUs, Scouter’s didn’t dissapoint in the bitterness department, but as unbalanced and insane as this beer intentionally is, it actually finished pretty clean.  Delicious, warming malt coats your palate first, which is then washed away by strong bitterness.  Genius moves all around.  I’m not sure how old or how common this is, but wow, wow, wow.  One of the best Barleywine’s I’ve ever had, and definitely my #1 Bear Republic beer, even though I don’t think I’d have the heart to drink another anytime soon.

Bear Republic completely mauled all of us at The Gate that night — and I learned a lot about beer in the process.  Honorable Mentions go to EZ Ryder, a 100% Rye Beer (yes, and it was…balanced, ridiculous) and Pete Brown’s (a winner as always).  For more action, check out Beertender Pat’s pictures from the event for completely superfluous heavy crew shots.

I know, I know. I’m posting Tuesday about a Sunday session, but you’ll have to excuse me. See, that photo is of me drinking my first beer of the day at around noon, and I didn’t really stop drinking until midnight, so Monday was sort of a lost day for me. Anyhow, Spring finally seems to have some staying power after Sunday’s near-perfect afternoon. C and I decided that rather than waste our day running errands, we’d get wasted and forget all about them instead (it worked, obviously). We packed up a picnic lunch to take to the park, but the only brew I had on hand that wasn’t a DIPA hop-monster of some sort (C is not a hop-head like I am) was this barleywine. I had purchased it to help round out my recent sampling of all the Arcadia beers I could find after falling in love with their Hop Rocket. It’s far from the ideal spring brew, but definitely a good choice to kick off a day of drinking with some style.

This thing is a beast. It pours like motor oil, sticks like maple syrup, and stinks like grandpa’s soggy breakfast. It’s sweet and hot on the palate with a lot of the same caramel and fruit you get on the nose. The 10% abv really gets you, and it seems as though the viscosity makes it all stick around for a while. Really mellow on the hop front, which bummed me out but probably helped C enjoy it even more. It definitely threw us for a loop and got the day moving a little sideways. Thankfully I got my hop fix afterwards at 4th Ave Pub with a few Lagunitas IPAs and Dogfish Head 90s on tap, and there’s where things got a little blurry. I only remember gripping a pitcher of sangria in one hand and a “Big Buck Hunter” plastic shotgun in the other while staring at the guacamole stains on my pants. Ah, springtime!

This beer’s a sidler. It sneaks up on you with a fruity but musty nose, then whacks you with a dose of smoky peat before finally bringing you gently to the hardwood with a sweet and sour finish that strikes a balance between Mary Poppins’ spoonful of sugar and some aborigine antimalarial. The malt is pretty forward, but readily tamed by both the smokiness and sourness. It’s almost like a mellow American Barleywine if it were aged in some crazy Highland Scotch barrels.

I started drinking the brew as an accompaniment to some table water crackers and Dutch Farmhouse cheese from the market, which it complimented nicely, but once we ladled out the ramp and potato soup with bacon and goat cheese I saw what this beer could do with the right dish. Just use your imagination. It’s not an every-day drinker at this price, but it so deftly walks the fine line between weird and delicious that it makes it a worthwhile splurge.